When the Past Returns
by Amothryie
Summary: The gang is reunited again after three years of separation. Arnold and Helga are in relationships with different people. A story of temptation of two people who cannot be together. [Chapter 2 is up! 5.30.07]
1. Chapter 1

**Title: When the Past Returns**

**Author: Amothryie**

**Rating: T**

**A/N: This is my first Hey Arnold story. My creative juices were flowing and they made me write this. Enjoy!**

It was a bright, sunny, September day in Hillwood. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and the birds were chirping. Everyone was happy. Well, everyone except the sleeping Helga G. Pataki, who, even though her persona had changed for the better over the past few years, still scowled in her sleep. She tossed and turned in her sleep. A few minutes later her alarm clock rang, signaling the start of a new day. She launched her pillow at the annoying, repetitive sound which knocked it off her nightstand and onto the ground, effectively silencing it. The blonde girl sat up in bed and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. She swung her legs over to one side of the bed and stood up, walking to the bathroom. She kicked the broken alarm clock with her foot and seethed silently as she stepped on a piece of broken off plastic. She grumbled and groused all the way to the bathroom. Her shower was a quick cold one as she quickly washed and dried herself. She brushed her teeth and quickly evaluated herself in the mirror.

She wasn't ugly anymore. Her hair, which used to be stick straight and in pigtails, now fell in soft curls down to the middle of her back with black highlights streaking it. The infamous unibrow had been attacked with tweezers and now was two shapely eyebrows, often arched when confronted with the idiots she had to deal with on a daily basis. Her figure, she noticed, wasn't too curvy, but not quite the stick shaped it was 6 years ago when she was 9. In each of her ears were five piercings. She also had a tongue ring and a pierced navel. She spat out the toothpaste and rinsed her mouth out. She wrapped a fuzzy pink robe around her and headed back to her room.

She walked into her closet and pulled on the string to turn on the light. Instead of the gum statue of Arnold that used to be there, there was a simple table with his picture on it and candles lit around it. If there was one thing that didn't change about Helga, it was her love for Arnold, although very diminished. There was something hard about letting go your first love.

"Good morning," she said adoringly to the photograph while grabbing her clothes for the day, a pair of black jeans and a light pink baby tee that showed off her toned midriff when she stretched. "Today's the day." She dressed quickly and hurried downstairs after grabbing her backpack and swinging it over her left shoulder. Miriam was sleeping with her head resting on the counter next to a blender. Helga banged her backpack onto the counter next to Miriam's head. She woke with a start.

"Huh? Wha?' she said looking around dazed and confused. Helga gave her a stern look.

"Did you make breakfast today Miriam? Or are you too drunk off your ass to remember to be a mother?" Helga said with contempt.

"There's cereal and milk that you can have," Miriam replied and promptly fell asleep again, letting her head flop rather hard on the green marble countertop. Helga winced slightly at the sound and took out some aspirin and placed it next to her mother. '_She'll need it_,' she thought to herself. Two seconds later, a rumbling sound could be heard as Big Bob hurried down the stairs. A flash of green was seen going past the doorway into the kitchen and out the door as he shouted, "Won't be home for dinner, business meeting with a client at Chez Pierre, be home late!" and slammed the front door, hurrying off to his beeper empire.

Helga sighed. It wasn't uncommon for Bob to not come home for dinner. In fact, she wouldn't be surprised if he was having an affair. It wouldn't take her three tries to guess that Miriam was a cold fish in the bedroom.

She quickly finished her breakfast and grabbed her backpack off the counter and headed towards school. She met up with Phoebe, a half Japanese girl who had been her best friend since Preschool. Like Helga, she also had five piercings in each of her ears and a tongue ring, but instead of a navel ring, she sported a black tattoo on her right hip, the Japanese symbol for friendship. Helga had a matching tattoo that only Phoebe knew about, situated on her left hip. She wore dark blue jeans, a black Chinese style top and black combat boots. Her straight hair fell down to her waist and she stood at a modest 5'2".

"Ohayo Gozaimasu, Helga!" Phoebe said, still the cheery girl from when they were younger.

"No Japanese today Phoebe," Helga replied sullenly. She wondered how much sugar Phoebe managed to put in her morning coffee today.

"Right, English!" The two girls walked on the sidewalk to the bus stop, conversing a little.

"Are you excited to be going to Hillwood High? We'll get to see all our old friends that went to Hillwood East instead of Hillwood West for junior high!" Phoebe asked excitedly. Helga rolled her eyes.

"Not particularly Phoebe, if we were still meant to be friends with them, then we would have kept in contact for the past three years, but we haven't." Once the students left P.S. 118 after sixth grade they either went to Hillwood East or Hillwood West depending on what area of the city they lived in, but then rejoined in high school. A lot of friendships had slipped away and ended because of this system, friendships like Phoebe and Gerald, Rhonda and Nadine, and even Sid and Stinky.

Speaking of Stinky, he was waiting for Helga and Phoebe at the bus stop. He was leaning against the bus stop sign, smoking a cigarette. His hair was slicked back and he was wearing black baggy pants, a Rammstein band t-shirt and a black leather jacket. His southern twang had all but disappeared except for a few words now and then. He was one of the tallest guys around, towering over people at 6'5". He caught sight of Helga and Phoebe walking towards him and smiled. He took one last inhale of the cigarette and dropped it on the ground, grinding it with the heel of his left foot. He swiftly wrapped his arms around Helga's slender frame and kissed her deeply. He and Helga had been going out for the better part of a year. He had found one of her more subdued poetry books and fell in love with her through her writing. He had spent almost three years trying to find out who had written such beautiful words and was going to give up when Helga got up the courage to ask for her book back. They didn't break apart until they heard Phoebe clear her voice.

"As much as I would love getting a free show from you guys, I really wouldn't mind if you guys would stop," she said, her voice low and sad.

"Don't worry Pheebs. You said it yourself, we'll get to see all our friends, even Gerald," Helga teased, drawing out the last word. Her best friend blushed deeply.

"Yeah, maybe y'all and Gerald will lock eyes across the hall and fall for each other again and pick up where y'all left off in sixth grade," Stinky added giving his friend a wink. Phoebe blushed an even deeper shade of red. Gerald and Phoebe had gotten a lot closer in sixth grade and even went out a few dates. They tried to continue their relationship through seventh grade, but because of the lack of quality time spent together due to the different schools, they had drifted apart. Now they barely talked to each other.

"And everyone tells me I'm the romantic," Helga laughed. She loved when her boyfriend let his Southern accent slip out sometimes. She thought it sounded out of place with their city slang. It was cute.

The city bus pulled up to the curb where the teens were standing and its doors opened. All three of them boarded the bus and took seats near each other. Phoebe stared at the window, but her hands wringed each other. Helga took note of this and reached over to pat her best friend's shoulder comfortingly. She understood why she was so nervous and Helga was slightly nervous for the same reason. Even though she had Stinky, and liked him a lot, today would be the first time in 3 years that she would see Arnold. '_Well_,' she thought to herself. '_Not really the first time in 3 years, but catching a glimpse of him as I walk down the street shouldn't count as seeing him._' She sighed and leaned her head on Stinky's shoulder. She took a deep breath as the bus pulled up in front of Hillwood High School. '_Here goes nothing_,' the blonde thought as she stood up, holding Stinky's hand and walking off the bus and into her new school.


	2. Chapter 2

**Title: When the Past Returns**

**Author: Amothryie**

**Rating: T**

**A/N:** Ok so I wasn't going to finish the 2nd chapter so soon but the 1st one is kind of boring without this one, and still, this one is kind of boring, but it's just a back story. I already have this story planned out so I won't stop in the middle and leave you all hanging. Next chapter will be a lot more interesting, I promise. I also have an idea for a one shot! Don't worry; it won't delay this story any longer. You guys should review more! I've only gotten 2 the last time I checked. So please review. Pretty please!

'_Hey Arnold… Hey Arnold… Hey Arnold… Hey Ar– _' a hand reached up and pulled the wire out of the potato, silencing the repetitive alarm. A head covered in cornflower colored hair popped from under the covers. Arnold's body followed. He tried to untangle himself from the buxom redhead that was attached to his frame. She groaned and pulled him closer. He shook her gently to get up.

"Come on Lila, we have to get up. There's school today," Arnold said a little annoyed. Her eyes fluttered open revealing two hazel pools.

"Ok, Babe," she replied stretching and getting out of the bed in just her bra and panties. Lila and Arnold had been seeing each other for about 2 years. Arnold's grandparents were getting on in years and couldn't make the trip up the stairs to his room. They mostly stayed in their room, only coming out for meals and such. This made it easy for Arnold to sneak his girlfriend up to his room for a bit of late night frolicking. Her father didn't care since he now worked night shifts at the factory and would come home after Lila had left for school. They hadn't taken their relationship to the next level, yet, Lila wanting to wait for marriage, so all they would do was some heavy petting and fall asleep together. She got dressed in a white skirt and a green shirt. She put on her white sandals and turned towards her boyfriend who was still sitting in bed, watching her get dressed.

"I'll wait for you by the bus stop," she said grabbing her purse and blowing him a kiss. She walked down the stairs with her hips swaying.

Arnold rolled his eyes. '_I wonder if what I'm getting is worth what I'm getting_.' He slid out of bed and put on a pair of khaki pants and a dark blue button up shirt. He took the gel off of his desk and pushed his hair back, like he used to wear it when he hung out with Frankie G. He wore it shorter than before. He grabbed his legendary blue cap and placed it on his head. Even after all these years, he still wore it as a memory of his parents. His muscular frame was due to soccer workouts. He was 6'2". He grabbed his backpack which was beside his couch and walked down the stairs, stopping once to check in on his grandparents to make sure they were still sleeping, and well, alive. After verifying that neither one of them kicked the bucket during the night, he hurried to the kitchen and grabbed a toaster pastry and a banana for his breakfast. He opened the front door and stepped aside as four dogs, a couple of cats, and Abner ran inside the house after being out all night. He saw Lila sitting on a bench outside, on the corner of the street. She had a compact mirror out and she was putting on make up and fixing up her hair into a single braid down her back. Try as everyone could to make her a city slicker, Lila still reverted back to her rural roots sometimes. It looked like she would be occupied for awhile so he hung back at his stoop.

Today was the first day of school and he was entering the 10th grade and going to a new school. He and Gerald had both went to Hillwood East along with roughly half of their 6th grade class. He had made new friends that had attended P.S. 113-119 who had also been placed in Hillwood East because of their living locations. Occasionally, he would see his old friends from P.S. 118 but they would never have enough time to stop for more than 5 minutes. He was looking forward to seeing everyone, Stinky, Harold, Nadine, Curly, Phoebe and even Helga. Even though she had made his elementary school years a living hell, he still missed her sarcastic personality.

He sighed and pushed off against the railing that he was leaning on. He walked to the bench and sat down next to his girlfriend. She had finally given into his advances in 9th grade and agreed to go out with him. They were the "ideal couple" to everyone, but lately Arnold began to doubt his choice in his girlfriend. Sure, she was smart, pretty, funny; basically the perfect girl for him, but she was just too perfect. As hard as he could, he could not find one single flaw in Lila Sawyer. It unnerved him that there was such a person out there, and he was dating her.

Lila finished with her makeup as Arnold finished with his toaster pastry. She blotted her lips with a spare napkin she found in her purse and smiled to make sure she didn't get any of her pink lipstick on her teeth. When she finished, Arnold handed her the banana to eat.

"No thanks, Arnold," she said after she denied the banana. "I'm ever so certain that banana's make me sick." He shrugged and peeled the banana for himself. Just another one of the things that bugged him, she was always so polite.

The bus pulled up and they got on. Gerald was already on sitting with Carla, an African-American girl in their grade with her hair pulled back in a ponytail. His arm was around her as they were talking. It looked like Carla was hanging onto Gerald's every word. Gerald had cut his hair and now had it braided into tight braids against his head. His attire was simple, a white FUBU t-shirt and blue baggy jeans. He was on the basketball team and was starting point guard for the Hillwood Highlanders, junior varsity of course. He was a major heartbreaker and was a guru of women and girls alike. Almost any girl in their school could not resist his famous patented 'point-and-wink'.

Lila kissed Arnold on the cheek and walked over to sit with her best friend, Rhonda Lloyd. Their looks and personality made them queens of their school, Lila the sweet one, and Rhonda the bitch. They complimented each other and as they say, opposites attract. Arnold took the seat behind Gerald and looked out the window watching brownstones and apartments roll by. Sensing his best friend's distress, Gerald looked over the top of the seat back at Arnold.

"Are you ok, bro? You seem sorta, out of it," he asked. Arnold just slouched in his seat and stared straight out the window.

"Nah, Gerald, its Lila. I'm having second thoughts about this whole relationship thing," he replied quietly so no one could overhear.

"Ah you'll be alright bro, you're just getting bored. Say, why don't you two come to Dino Land with me and Carla this weekend? That'll put the interest back into Lila for you. Out of the ordinary dates usually do that."

"Thanks Gerald, you're the man." The teenage boys did their wiggly thumb handshake and Gerald turned his attention back to the girl next to him. Arnold still didn't feel better about anything, but straightened up and continued to look out the window for the remainder of the trip to school


End file.
